Books and Video Win on the iPad, and Users Are Buying

Updated:Some of the figures in the original version of this post were incorrect, due to an error by Nielsen in the data they sent. We have noted where the new information is below, and replaced the original chart about iPad app purchases with a corrected version.

Although the iPad is still relatively new, early indications are that a majority of users are willing to pay for content on the tablet — whether it’s apps or games — and that books and video are the two most popular forms of media they choose to consume on the iPad, with magazines a close third. Those are the highlights of a Nielsen study on connected devices released today. The survey also found something that will likely pique the interest of advertisers looking to the iPad as a new opportunity: Users said they spent longer with the content they were reading, watching or listening to on the iPad vs. the iPhone (the survey didn’t compare content consumption on either device to offline behavior or content consumed on other devices).

Not surprisingly perhaps — given the iPad’s larger screen — users said they read books and watched video such as TV and movies on the device more than they do on the iPhone. Survey respondents said they read books 39 percent of the time on the iPad, compared with just 13 percent of the time on the iPhone, and they watched TV shows 33 percent of the time on the larger device vs. just 11 percent of the time on the phone. The iPhone won out for content such as news (53 percent of the time, vs. 44 percent on the iPad) and music (51 percent of the time on the iPhone vs. 41 percent on the iPad).

Watching movies was far more popular on the iPad in terms of time spent than the iPhone, with the largest group of respondents saying they spent between 1 and 2 hours doing this. The iPad appears to be an appealing way to spend more time with the news as well, which should be good news for magazine and newspaper publishers who are looking to the tablet as a way of boosting their fortunes; more than 30 percent of users said they spent as much as half an hour reading news on their iPad, compared with just 15 percent of iPhone users who said the same thing.

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As far as paying for content is concerned, 63 percent of users have paid for and downloaded apps on their iPads (surprisingly, more than 30 percent have not downloaded a single app for their tablets, which makes you wonder what they’re using them for). Update: More than 90 percent of iPad owners reported that they had bought at least one app. The most paid-for apps and content are games, followed by books, then music. Shopping and news-related apps are also popular, as well as location-based apps and those having to do with movies.